Feeder, extractor, and cleaning machine for cotton gins



April 19, 1938. B. c. Wampum 2,114,552

FEEDER, EXTRACTOR, AH? MU 'mA Ii'HlHE FOR COTTON GINS Filziwi ll 1535b Patented Apr. 19, 1938 PATENT OFFICE FEEDER, EXTRACTOR, AND CLEANING MA- GHINE FOR COTTON GINS Bronson C. Woodford, Dallas, Tea, assignor to The Murray Company, Dallas, Tern, a corporation of Texas Application January 11, 1936, Serial No. 58,646

3 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in feeder, extractor, and cleaning machines for cotton gins.

- One' object of the invention is to provide an improved extractor-cleaner feeder for cotton gms.

An important object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character described wherein an improved arrangement and association of parts and elements, makes for increased efficiency, simplicity of structure and reduction in number of parts.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cleaning arrangement, whereby more effective cleaning is performed prior to the extracting operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved brush mounting, whereby the brushes for feeding the lint cotton to the lower saw cylinder may be swung to compensate for wear of the brushes and to properly adjust said brushes with relation to said saw cylinder.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved revolving brush, whereby double rows of bristles may be employed at each flight and a more stable brush produced.

A construction designed to carry out the invention will be hereinafter described, together with other features of the invention.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawing in which an example of the invention is shown, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a transverse, vertical sectional view of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention, and

Figure 2 is an enlarged isometric view of the revolving brush.

Cir

case or housing of the machine which may be of any approved construction; however; it is preferable to form the machine with upright end members H, which may either be cast or made of sheet metal pressed to shape. A front section l2, a bottom section I3 and a back section 14 of the housing may each be formed of sheet metal .and disposed longitudinally between the end members to form a complete enclosure. It is not considered necessary to go into the details of the housing structure as the same involves well known manufacturing expedients and such details are not essential to the invention.

A hopper I5 is formed at the top of the hous- 5'5 ing for receiving seed cotton from the dis- In the drawing, the numeral 49 designates the tribut or, or any other source of supply. A pair of feeding rolls iii are mounted in the hopper on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of said hopper and are spaced apart sufficiently to provide an ample gap for receiving and feeding the cotton downwardly. These rolls are preferably star-shaped and rotate toward each other and downwardly. They are revolved very slowly so as to regulate the feed of the cotton and prevent choking.

At the bottom of the hopper and intermediate the rolls I 6 is a kicker-roller ll, of the usual 'type, which revolves in a counter-clockwise direction so as to cast the cotton into a cleaning chamber 18. The kicker-roller is close enough to the rolls It to engage the cotton as it is discharged by said rolls and to co-act particularly with the left hand roll 16 and thus tend to separate the cotton locks. This kicker-roller .revolves very rapidly and many times faster than the feed rolls.

A cleaning roller I9 is journaled in the cleaning chamber and is of the usual construction having spikes 2B. The bottom of the cleaning chamber is formed by a semi-circular screen 25, which is preferably made of wire mesh suitable for the purpose. The screen is disposed concentrically to the roller l9 so that the holes and cotton locks will be carried in a continuous path over the surface of saidscreen. The spikes 20 pass in close proximity to the kicker-roller l7 and revolve in an opposite direction to the opposed circumferential travel of' the latter, so that cotton carried up the rear side of the chamber 18 is kicked by the roller ll out of said chamber at the top of the rear side thereof. The spikes co-act with the screen in breaking up the dry holes and also have a tendency to open the boles and separate the looks when engaging the mass of cotton.

Thecotton is cast into an extracting chamber 22 at the rear of the housing by the kicker-roller ii. The chambers l8 and 22 are separated by a longitudinal bridge 23 having an upwardly inclined top 24. The cotton and opened boles discharged to the roller IT by the roller I9 will be carried by said roller ll up the inclined surface 24, whereby further separation of the locks and further bole breaking will be accomplished. At the bottom of the extracting chamber a saw cylinder 25 is journaled and above this cylinder is a stripper-roller 26 revolving in the same direction as the saw cylinder. It will be seen that der, will tend to strip excess cotton and foreign Lil matter from the said cylinder and cast it back into the extracting chamber, while the cotton lint remaining on the saws will be carried rearwardly into a brush chamber 21. Mostly trash, shale and the like will be stripped by the roller 25 from the cylinder 25, however, some lint cotton will be stripped by said roller.

The bottom of the extractor chamber 22 is open to a restricted extent and the stripped materials, as well as a portion of the bolly cotton, will pass downwardly through the bottom of said chamber. A second saw cylinder 28, preferably smaller than the cylinder 25, is disposed immediately below the latter and forwardly of the shaft of the cylinder 25 so as to underlie the open bottom of the chamber 22. The saw cylinder 25 revolves in a clockwise direction, while the cylinder 28 revolves in a counter-clockwise direction. From this, it would be obvious that any lint cotton carried by the lower cylinder 28 will be picked up by the saws of the upper cylinder 25.

A hull member 29 extends downwardly from the bridge 23 in front of the saw cylinder 28. This member carries a brush 3i! at its lower end including a single row of bristles and disposed so that the ends of the bristles engage the saw teeth in the under side of the cylinder. A second brush 3|, similar to the brush 3!), is carried by the upper portion of the member so as to engage the teeth of the lower saw cylinder above the plane of its shaft. These brushes extend the length of the cylinder, as is the usual practice.

The member 29 carries a curved apron 32, ex tending from the upper brush 3| to the lower end of the rear side of the bridge 23. A second apron 33 extends from the brush 30 upwardly of the member 29 far enough to catch and retain locks of cotton which may fall from the cylinder 28. The brushes act to arrest the lint cotton and feed it to the teeth of the cylinder 28, permitting the dust and fine trash to sift between their bristles. The member 29 is pivoted at its upper end whereby it may be swung to adjust its brushes to the saw cylinder.

It will be noted that the bottom section l3 of the housing has a hopper shape and the screen 2| is located over the inclined front side of said hopper, while the cylinder 28 and member 29 are located over the rear inclined side of said bottom section. By this arrangement the trash, dirt, huils and the like, which fall upon these inclined bottom portions, are carried downwardly to a conveyor trough 34 at the extreme bottom of said section. A screw conveyor 35 is located in this trough and extends longitudinally through the machine so as to carry oif the waste matter. The hopper is unobstructed and fine matter, such as dust, leaf trash and shale which sifts through the screen 2| is given full opportunity to settle into the trough 34. There is also ample clearance between the member 29 and the screen 2|.

A brush cylinder 36 is mounted longitudinally in the chamber 2'! and the particular structure of the brush is rather important, being shown in detail in Figure 2. This cylinder is provided with longitudinal brush bars 3?, each bar carrying two rows of bristles 38. Curved cover sheets 39 are fastened on the cylinder and have flanges Ml bent outwardly to form sockets in which the bars 31 are received.

The bars 3'! are made wedge shaped so as to snugly wedge into the sockets between the flanges 49, whereby said bars are securely supported. These bars may be fastened to the cylinder in any suitable manner. It will be noted that the flanges 40 extend outwardly beyond the bars on each side of the bristles. This structure has several advantages. Cotton will sometimes collect in more or less dense masses in the space between the brush and the cylinder 25 and the stripper roller 26. The wide crotches between the brush 7 bars prevent choking and the outwardly extending flanges give the brush sufficient stability to move the cotton. The bristles will be protected and will not be deflected as much as if the flanges were not used, therefore a more efllcient brushing action will be obtained. The flanges will further provide an increased fan action.

The brush 35 is located so that the brush bristles 38 will brush the lint from the saws of the cylinder 25 and discharge it into a hopper 4| at the bottom of the chamber 21. These bristles also pass in close proximity to the stripper-roller 26, thus keeping it from becoming overloaded. A

chute 42' extends from the hopper 4| for delivering the seed cotton to the gin stand, in the usual manner.

In operation, the bolly cotton isv delivered to the feed rolls IS in the hopper IS, in the usual manner, and carried downwardly between said rolls onto the kicker-roller IT. The best performance is had by revolving the roller I! at a much higher rate of speed than the rate at which the feed rolls are revolved. As an illustration and without limitation, good results have been had by revolving the rolls H5 at about 5 R. P-. M. and the kicker-roller I! at about 400 R. P. M.

The fast moving kicker-roller I! will tend to stratify the cotton mass, thereby separating the locks and casting the cotton and unbroken holes, or partially opened, boles into the chamber |8 in the path of the spikes 2!! of the cleaner roller l9. The cotton will be carried downwardly at the front of the chamber and over the. screen 2| by these spikes; it being preferable to revolve the roller |9 at the same rate of speed as: the roller IT. The apparatus in the chamber l8 not, only acts as a cleaner but also as abole breaker. The dust, fine leaf trash and shale-will sift through the screen 2| and pass downwardly in, the hopper bottom |3 to the trough 34.,

The cotton which hasbeen treated in the chamber I8 will be carried upwardly against the front side of the bridge 23 into contact, with the under side of the kicker-roller H, which will move it upthe incline 24andcast it into the extracting chamber 22. The cotton, in passing between the roller I1 and the bridge 24, will, again be stratifled and loosened. The cotton which is cast into the chamber 22 will be substantially clean except for hulls and larger particles of trash which may adhere thereto.

The cotton passes down the bridge 23 and is fed to the saws of the cylinder 25 and carried upwardly toward the stripper-roller 25 which acts to strip from such cotton hulls and particles of. trash, casting them back into the chamber 22. Seed cotton, is carried by the cylinder 25 into the chamber 27, is stripped off by the brush 36 and falls into the hopper 4| from which it passes by way of the chute 42 to the gin stand.

The hully cotton, from the chamber 22, will fall down through the bottom of the said chamber onto the saw cylinder 28 and will be carried downwardly by said cylinder through the brushes 30 V and 3|. This operation will extract the remaining hulls and trash which will fall into the bottom |3gand finally be caught in the, trough 34.

Jill

The conveyor will, of course, carry off all of the foreign matter collected in the trough. The cotton which is fed to the saw cylinder 28 by the brushes, as well as the cotton which clings thereto, will be carried by said cylinder upwardly and stripped off by the oppositely revolving saws of the cylinder 25. In order to secure the best results, the cylinder 25 is revolved at a higher rate of speed than the cylinder 28 and the stripper-roller 26 is revolved at a much higher rate of speed than the cylinder 25. The brush cylinder 36 is revolved at a faster rate of speed than the saw cylinder 25, but not as rapidly as the stripper-roller.

What I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is: V

1. A machine of the class described including, a housing having a hopper bottom'provided with a discharge conveyor at its bottom, the front and rear sides of the housing bottom inclining continuously to said conveyor, a cleaning chamber in the housing overhanging the front portion of the hopper bottom, an extracting chamber at the rear of said cleaning chamber and overhanging the rear portion of the hopper bottom for receiving the cotton from the cleaning chamber, a pair of saw cylinders arranged one above the other and receiving the cotton in the extracting chamber,

an arcuate hull member hingedly mounted at its.

2. A machine of the class described including,

a housing having a hopper bottom provided with a discharge conveyor at its bottom, the front and rear sides of thehousing bottom inclining continuously to said conveyor, a cleaning chamber in the housing overhanging the front portion of the hopper bottom, an extracting chamber at the rear of said cleaning chamber and overhanging said brush chamber acting on the upper saw cylinder to brush cotton therefrom, an arcuate hull member hingedly mounted in the housing at its upper end and above the lower saw cylinder, with its'lower end terminating below said lower cylinder, said hull member carrying a pair of brushes one of which is located above and the other below the axis of. said lower saw cylinder, and separate upper and lower aprons on said hull member leading respectively to said brushes for feeding cotton to said lower cylinder.

3. The herein described cotton cleaning machine comprising a housing having a hopper-like trash receiving chamber in its lower portion, the front and rear side walls of the chamber inclining downward continuously and uninterruptedly convergent to a transverse trash conveyor at its bottom, an initial cleaning chamber located directly above the forward upper portion of the trash receiving chamber and open at its rear top portion to communicate with the feed inlet of the machine and having a semi-cylindrical trash sifting screen constituting its bottom and the forward dividing top wall of the trash receiving chamber, an extracting chamber located directly at the rear of said initial cleaning chamber and above said trash receiving chamber, said extracting chamber having an opening in its bottom portion communicating directly with the rear upper portion of the trash receiving chamber, said initial cleaning chamber and the extracting chamber being divided by a bridge extending transversely of the machine housing and having a rearwardly and upwardly inclined top portion defining the bottom ofv a direct communicating opening between said initial cleaning chamber and the extracting chamber, a vertical front portion extending downward from the lower forward end of said inclined top portion and merging tangentially at its lower edge with said trash sifting screen and constituting the rear wall of the initial cleaning chamber, and a rear portion extending inclinedly downward from the upper rear end of said inclined top portion whereby to constitute a front hopper bottom wall for the extraeting chamber and terminating at its lower edge at the opening between the extracting chamber and the trash receiving chamber; a circumferentially spiked roller of an overall diameter approximately that of the cleaning chamcumferentially close to said spiked roller and l restrictedly spaced at a greater distance from the forward top corner of the bridge, both of said rollers rotating in the same direction with their upper portions travelling forwardly and downwardly and their lower portions rearwardly and r upwardly whereby the material fed to the machine is initially carried forwardly over said spiked roller, thence downwardly, rearwardly and upwardly between the roller and the front wall, semi-cylindrical bottom rear wall of the cleaning chamber and back to the kicker-roller where it is deflected by the kicker-roller into the extracting chamber, and hull extracting, stripping and dofling means located at the rear of the extracting chamber.

BRONSON C. WOODFORD.

screen and vertical 

